U.S. Universities Announce Legal Defense of Mexican Students

Protesters assemble at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017 after two Iraqi refugees were detained while trying to enter the country, . On Friday, Jan. 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending all immigration from countries with terrorism concerns for 90 days. Countries included in the ban are Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, which are all Muslim-majority nations. photo: AP/Craig Ruttle, photo: AP/Craig Ruttle

Rectors of 144 public universities in the United States expressed their commitment and support to the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to help Mexican students who could be expelled from the United States.

Rectors of the University of Texas, Indiana and Arizona expressed their support to UNAM to help the Mexican students. The vice president of Arizona University, Mike Proctor, said “We must work together to ensure that we are not supporting current meaningless policies.”

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) expressed its rejection to Donald Trump’s executive order that bans the entry of immigrants from various countries into the United States.

“The scale of this decision goes beyond its immediate impact. The universities of our country are enriched and strengthened with the talent, vision and culture of international students, academics and researchers,” said APLU’s president Peter McPherson.

Among the large group of U.S. universities that signed the APLU pronouncement those in the California Public University System stand out, an entity that represents the sixth largest economy in the world and the birthplace of 30 million people of Mexican origin.